9 kIslev 5784 / 22.11.2023 בס"ד

To all the esteemed supporters and friends of the Encyclopedia Talmudit

I write to you in the midst of days of trial and tribulation when we find ourselves in a difficult war that been forced upon us.

On the very day of Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah, which fell on Shabbat, thousands of evildoers, members of Hamas/ISIS from Gaza attacked the Jewish residents in communities
surrounding the Gaza Strip. They murdered, slaughtered, burned, tortured, raped and abducted people – women and children, old people and babies, whole families –
and neither spared nor pitied them. To our great sorrow, they murdered about 1400 Jews in a single day.
We have not experienced anything like this since the atrocities of the Nazis.
As a result of these barbaric and animalistic acts, the people of Israel had no choice but to enter into a war against the Hamas gangs in Gaza. The current battles are only the beginning of that war, and there is no telling when it will end.
We turn in prayer to the Creator requesting from the bottom of our hearts that God will help our soldiers succeed in battle, that they will all return safe and sound, and that God will hasten the healthy return of all those kidnapped and held captive.
The people of Israel have fought wars from the time of our birth as a nation until this very day. The Torah and the Halacha guide us in all matters concerning the conduct of war.

The administration of the Talmudic Encyclopedia initiated the production of a special volume that focuses on the subject of war in the light of Halacha. At the beginning of the volume, there is a concise summary of the Halachic principles and details related to the mitzvah of saving Israel from their enemies. These halachic rulings are extracted from the entries "מלחמה" and "עורכי מלחמה" from Vol. 49 of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, as well as the essay on war written by Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin ob"m, the first editor of the Talmudic encyclopedia, in his book "לאור ההלכה". In the third part, are additional entries from the Talmudic Encyclopedia dealing with social issues - "אהבת ישראל", "אונאת דברים", "מחלוקת" - this is to indicate the needed correction of the society in Israel.

In order to help strengthen the spiritual and Torah fortification of the IDF and of Am Yisrael, You have the option to allocate your donation to a specific number of books that will be distributed to IDF commanders, soldiers, military chaplains, and synagogues in IDF bases.

With prayers for success in the current war, good news, salvation and comfort,

Rabbi Prof. Avraham Steinberg
Head of the Encyclopedia Talmudit